Lichtenstein on the Roof
Harriet Zinnes
To view art from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art simply doubles the joy of viewing. Before one is the open sky in
the 10,000-square-foot open air space where uniquely tall buildings of the world
become airy decorative objects through spectacular views of Central Park and
the New York City skyline, and near one are sculptures reinforcing one’s
amazement at man’s triumphant imagination. And now, through November 2,
2003 (weather permitting) are six sculptures by the American artist Roy Lichtenstein
(1923-1997).
Here are works
that Lichtenstein created in the l990s. What is special about them is that the
artist through the sculptures makes allusions to his own earlier work or to the
work of such artists as Picasso and Brancusi. They are works characteristic of
Lichtenstein. Always with some kind of wit – consider “Coup de Chapeau
11” with its reference to cartoons — and never without large-scale
brushstrokes and bright, exuberant colors, the sculptures do honor to the artist.
Here exhibited for the first time in New York is the house that, yes, Lichtenstein
“built.” The curator, Jack Cowart, who is head of the Lichtenstein
Foundation, actually had the house landscaped with a bit of grass and stones
to give it a sense of reality, for it is a kind of skeleton of a house, with
front and back facades and windows (all with the black strokes of the artist)
and no real domestic solidity.
There are usually
painterly effects on the sculptures – and this eminent sculptor had painted
in his early days. One can see them in the l993 “Brushstroke Nude”
with its evidence of baroque effects or in “Endless Drip” (probably
an allusion to Brancusi’s “Endless Column”). This work of painted
and fabricated aluminun demonstrates this sculptor’s emphasis on the very
physicality of paint itself.
A very special show offering the additional scenes of the very special New York
City skyline.
